


Black Hellebore

by apple931



Category: Splatoon
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Hanahaki Disease, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, my job in life is to make rider suffer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-12
Updated: 2020-11-12
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:40:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27527797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/apple931/pseuds/apple931
Summary: Coughing up petals is never a good sign.
Relationships: Goggles/Rider (Splatoon)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 31





	Black Hellebore

His eyes widened as he stared at the petal that just fell from his lips. He just finished a painful coughing fit, but he was stricken with fear when he noticed it had fluttered down onto his palm. His breath was raspy and heavy from all the coughing, throat and chest hurting as he crushed the petal in his fist. He knew what it meant, he knew there were only a select few ways to go about this. And he wasn’t sure which one would be more taxing. He bit his lip, depositing the pitch black petal in the trash. This wasn’t going to end well. 

  
  


Rider’s ears perked up when he heard a knock on his door, tilting his head in confusion at the noise. He wasn’t sure why anyone would bother coming over, especially since his home was so far from the square. Not like he invited anyone, that’s for sure. He hesitated before turning the doorknob, opening with a click as he looked uncertainly at the inkling in front of him. He let out a sigh, crossing his arms. “What’re you doing here, Stealth?”  
Stealth had a couple small boxes in his arms, flinching from the sudden sound. “I uh- Well, you said in the group chat that you had a cough, so I uh, figured I’d bring over some cough syrup to help you feel better!” He giggled nervously. Rider softened his gaze. He knew he had a tendency to be anxious when initiating interactions, so he decided to cut him some slack. He gestured silently for him to come in, seating himself on the couch after locking the door behind Stealth.

Stealth put the cough syrup on the coffee table before sitting next to him, a worried look on his face staring at the taller inkling, not like he’d be able to tell with that helmet of his. Rider pursed his lips, brows furrowed as he felt that familiar discomfort in the back of his throat. He resolved to let Stealth know. They’d known each other long enough, and while he didn’t feel comfortable enough to show much of a soft side, he was willing to confide, just this once. He flinched as the coughing started up again, hurting his chest as he put a hand to his mouth to catch the petals. Stealth panicked a bit, putting a hand to the other’s shoulder as he hunched over himself. 

When the coughing was over he was out of breath, heaving as the pain in his chest slowly faded away along with the coughs. He looked over to Stealth, having taken off his helmet. Sometimes Rider honestly forgot about that, the secret he told him that one day. His rounded ears were drooping from anxiety as he backed off of him, figuring he didn’t want to be touched. “A-are you okay? That cough sounds really bad!” He reached for one of the boxes.

“D-don’t bother with that… Cough syrup isn’t gonna fix this…” He held out his hand, a fistful of petals in his palm. Stealth looked down at them, gears turning in his head as he managed to put two and two together. Like most, he was well aware of what those petals meant along with the coughing. 

“...Who is it?” His anxious face turned into a more compassionate one, watching as Rider sat upright again, finally catching his breath. 

“...Promise not to tell?” Stealth simply nodded. After all, Rider promised to keep his secret. It’d be cruel of him not to return the favor. Not like he was a fan of spreading secrets around like gossip anyways. He watched as Rider tensed up a bit, looking away with a yellow-green blush spreading across his face and tips of his ears. “I- it’s uh…” He paused, sighing. “...It’s Goggles.” 

Stealth honestly wasn’t that surprised. He had been softening up around him recently, and definitely wasn’t nearly as hostile as he was when he first met the blue inkling. He sat uncomfortably in the silence following the statement, Rider still not willing to look at him, seeming flustered. The situation was… worrying to say the least. It was either die, forget that Goggles ever existed, or confess, and while the answer seemed obvious, it still wasn’t foolproof. Stealth wasn’t sure what to do. He didn’t know Goggles that well. There was no telling how it would turn out. The sound of coughing ripped him out of his thoughts, looking over to see more petals falling from his team leader’s lips. “...How do you want to go about this?” Stealth patted his back while he coughed, as if he was choking. 

“I… Don’t know.” Rider sighed as he caught his breath again. “I guess I kinda have to… you know. But, if it doesn’t work…” Both their eyes widened at the prospect of it. He’d either have to die or remove an entire person from his memory forever. Neither sounded very appealing. 

“I uh- think it’s best to just… try and hope for the best? I mean, at least he doesn’t hate you, t-that's a good start!” Stealth didn’t really consider himself the best at encouragement, and in all honesty that was about the most positive thing about this situation he could think up in under 5 minutes. Not that he would’ve had any luck finding a good thing in over 5 minutes either. Rider just kept looking away. 

“...You should go.” He didn’t face Stealth as the octoling nodded, standing up and taking the boxes of cough syrup before walking out the door in silence. 

He closed the door behind him before leaning against it, sighing. “What the hell am I going to do with this cough syrup.” 

  
  
  


Days passed and the coughing only got worse. He had told Stealth to let them know that he was sick, and to run training himself. He could barely go 10 minutes without having another petal form in his throat, and his fits got so bad to the point where he found himself crying from pain after they finished. He was so tired, he couldn’t get any sleep, so he laid in bed all day, unable to do anything except think about how he was dying. He was honestly terrified, barely able to breathe with nothing he could do about it. 

He wasn’t sure why he texted him like that. He was probably too tired from lack of sleep to be able to really think about it, just wanting to see him one last time. It took all the energy he had to leave his room to unlock the front door and return to his bed, immediately coughing up more petals after he laid down. 

  
  


Goggles stared down at the notification on his phone. Rider had been completely MIA for weeks now, nobody having seen a trace of him at all. His teammates said he was sick, but they refused to elaborate further. He figured that Rider texting him asking him to come over was probably important considering that fact, so he resolved to get there as soon as possible, slipping on his shoes and practically sprinting out the door. Admittedly, part of why he wanted to get there so fast was because he missed him, wanting to see his face again. But more than anything he was worried. 

He was heaving by the time he got to his house, legs nearly giving out on him as he leaned against the door. He had ran all the way there as fast as he could get himself to go, catching his breath as he knocked. No answer, despite waiting for minutes and knocking again. A jiggle of the doorknob showed that it was unlocked, Goggles cocking his head in confusion before realizing he probably left it like that for when he showed up. 

Looking around the seemingly empty house, Goggles tried to figure out where on earth the other inkling could be. Was he not home? Faint coughing from another room further back made his ears perk up. “Rider?” Goggles called out, being drawn to the sound. He wanted to investigate. It sounded painful and strained, as if he was out of breath and desperately trying to catch it. The source of the noise was coming from a room at the end of the hallway with the door cracked slightly. 

Goggles slowly pushed open the door, peeking into the room, eyes widening in worry at what he saw. The yellow-green inkling was curled up on his bed, black petals surrounding him as he finished coughing up more. He didn’t even seem to notice that Goggles was there, although to be fair he was fairly quiet. Goggles was frozen for a minute, unsure of what to do before he instinctively ran over to his side, sitting next to him and pulling him into his arms in panic. Rider gasped in surprise, not having been alerted to the other’s presence beforehand. “Rider you-” He got cut off by another cough from the other inkling, who was practically a little ball in his arms.

“I’m sorry I just- I wanted to see you again…” Rider’s voice was barely more than a whisper, hoarse and shaky from all the coughing. Goggles hugged him tighter before it hit him. 

He suddenly realized what was going on. The petals, the coughing, him wanting to see him again, it made sense. And by Cod he was so glad that he came over as fast as he did. “Rider… You could’ve just told me…” He felt tears in the corners of his eyes, holding him even closer to the point where he was practically smothering him. “I fucking love you, y’know…” 

It was like time had stopped. Rider felt a weight lift off his chest, the one that had made it so hard to breathe even when he wasn’t coughing up petals. It felt almost serene, and yet he couldn’t stop the tears that came soon after. He wrapped his arms around the waist of the person enveloping him in a comforting warmth, sobbing into his chest as he clung to him like his life depended on it. He looked like he had just heard the saddest news of his life but in reality he was oh so happy. 

Goggles gave him a warm smile, letting him cry while he pet his head to comfort him. “It’s okay… It’s gonna be okay…” He kept whispering words of comfort to him, smiling as he slowly started to calm down, feeling the other relax in his arms and nuzzle into the embrace. Rider didn’t say a thing, too focused on the feeling of being held and no longer being out of breath to want to speak. They were both happy to sit in silence.

“Goggles…” He muttered, head nestled against his chest.

“Hm?”  
“I love you.” 

  
  
  
  


“Rider look! The flowers are blooming!” Goggles grinned, yelling through the open window from outside. The other inkling came running over, squatting next to him and smiling at the blooms. He rested his head on the blue inkling’s shoulder, looking at the beautiful black flowers together. 

**Author's Note:**

> hello gorai tag, its me, ya girl. back again as the ceo of hurt/comfort and gorai. black hellebore means relieving my anxiety in flower language and its just a very pretty flower in general (srsly look it up on google images its fuckin gorgeous), so yeah.


End file.
